FOR years, canola producers have looked at direct heading crops to cut costs, but generally only those in low-yield environments have taken to the system, with most still preferring to windrow.
However, one north east Victorian farmer has built up faith in direct heading and this year will direct head the entire crop, saving up to $35 a hectare in windrowing costs in the process.
Hamish Sinclair of Devenish, near Benalla, began trialling direct heading four years ago in a bid to improve logistics at harvest time and is now comfortable enough with the system to embrace it across his entire plant.
Mr Sinclair (pictured) said it had been useful not worrying about the windrowing operation leading into harvest and, contrary to some beliefs, he had not noticed any downside in terms of yield penalties or quality issues.
The Sinclair family farms 2023 hectares, growing cereals, canola and pulse crops using no-till techniques, and also runs some prime lambs.
They first got into direct harvesting canola by chance, after buying a new Claas header and selecting a Vario front, which was designed for direct heading canola in the United Kingdom.
Seeing as yields for the canola equivalent in the UK are high, and the crop obviously handled direct heading, Mr Sinclair thought it would be worth trialling direct heading
"In the first year we trialled it, we did it on a small scale and windrowed the majority of our crop but it has just grown from there," he said.
"It has been a progression based on the success we have had and learning as we have gone along, but it seems to work particularly well."
And the practice may become even more widespread if the Grains Research and Develop- ment Corporation (GRDC) has its way.
The GRDC is supporting growers in the adoption of the technique, recently releasing a fact sheet which includes a cost comparison of the windrowing versus direct heading.
It may well be that windrowing becomes an optional pass in much the same way as pre-seeding working is only done on occasion.
In the first year of using the technique, 100 millimetres of rain fell during harvest and as a result Mr Sinclair noticed a big difference in the windrowed canola compared with the standing canola.
"The standing canola dried a lot quicker and we were able to get back to harvesting a lot quicker than the windrowed canola," he said.
"Also, the test weight that year tended to deteriorate in the windrows more than it did in the standing canola, so we found we were getting a much better test weight out of the standing canola than we were out of the area being windrowed."
The one significant question he still has about direct heading is: What will happen in the case of bad conditions when the crop is ready to harvest?
"We have had wind that has been quite strong and we haven't noticed any shattering, but it is fairly critical that you are there when the crop is mature and that there are no holdups," he said.
"I think that the issue shattering has been a bit overblown - it hasn't been our experience that you lost much seed at all."
Gregor Heard
National grains writer for Fairfax Agricultural Media.
National grains writer for Fairfax Agricultural Media.
